The Light at the End of the Dock
by Linz005
Summary: An ER patient dies, but when the patient turns out to be Wilson’s missing brother for House and Cuddy the mystery has only just started. The are three sides to the story, but for once no one is lying.


Title: The Light at the End of the Dock

Author: Lindsay

Fandom: House MD

Pairing: None really, but strong Wilson/House/Cuddy platonic friendship.

Summary: An ER patient dies, but when the patient turns out to be Wilson's missing brother for House and Cuddy the mystery has only just started. The are three sides to the story, but for once no one is lying.

Disclaimer: I don't own it and even though this is a wasted statement that makes little difference, I do it merely out of practice and tradition. Thanks.

Distribution: Anyone can have it with permission

Warnings: None

A/N: I love getting feedback. I only have a few requests: If you are going to leave good or bad feedback please be sure to either do so with an account or include an email address. I don't like to set it to only registered users because not everyone has an account, but they still have valid ideas and suggestions. I should also have the opportunity to respond to them. So that being said I also feel if you are going to use an account that you should use one that actually represents who you are and not a front for you to act very high and mighty about what makes fic good and bad (I think majority of us know who I'm talking about here). I like to know who I'm _really_ talking or listening to.

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Cuddy was walking through her nightly rounds checking on patients and the remaining doctors one last time before she herself left for the night. Everything was running smoothly and in order as it should be. Most of the Department Heads were either gone or doing the same as she was. The only doctors really left were those on call for the night. The ER was busy, but not overly so and it looked like she would still be able to get in an hour or so of tennis practice. She made one last notation in the file she was carrying and sat it in the appropriate place on the Nurse's Station to be filed and reexamined no doubt in the morning. 

She glanced across the way when the glow of an orange light caught her eye. It was House's office and chances were better that one of his Ducklings had left a light on than the thought that House was still at work at this hour, especially when Cuddy knew his latest patient had been moved out of ICU sure to make a perfect recovery. She walked over toward the door and saw House's familiar form reclining in his chair, his legs resting on his desk while he looked at a tattered book.

"What are you doing here?" Cuddy asked pushing the glass door to his office open. House glanced up looking slightly tired, though his brow was furrowed in that way that only happened when he was deeply rooted in one of his medical mysteries.

"I work here." He said dryly looking up at her. "And the name on the door tells me this is where I'm supposed to be." He turned his attention back to the book.

"I can't remember the last time you were alone in your office after your normal hours, no team, no list of symptoms on the board in the other room." House smirked slightly. "Is this about Stacy?"

"She's irrelevant to this." He said brushing off the comment. Stacy was far from irrelevant. The past month since she had been back had been hell in many ways. "As far as I know, she is at home with her husband. So no reason to hang around here for her."

There was a long silent moment. Cuddy thought maybe she should just leave. House was clearly in one of his moods where she didn't really understand what he was up to, but in the end he either saved a life or snapped out of it enough so that he was back to busting her chops as per usual. She moved toward the door, her heels making the only the slightest noise so that the silence still weighed heavily in the room.

" 'So he invented just the sort of Jay Gatsby that a seventeen year old boy would be likely to invent, and to this conception he was faithful to the end.'" House's voice broke the silence in sharp waves causing Cuddy to turn around and look at him with a raised eyebrow as he turned the page in the book.

"The Great Gatsby?" She asked taking a few steps back toward his desk.

"Wow, you are either really well versed in your standard sophomore summer reading material or the 'Gatsby' part gave it away." House said looking up once more and dropping the tattered book to the desk. It looked as if it had bore the brunt of the elements for some time. The ends of the pages were folded up and in some places, dog eared as if the owner (be it House or someone else) had been studying it as if it were the Bible.

"And you either have a patient connected in some weird way to that book or you spend far too much time reading your standard sophomore summer reading material." She replied taking a seat across from him. She had to resist the urge to look at the book as if touching it and analyzing it would make this suddenly all very clear.

"It is a classic. There are worse things someone could be reading. But your first guess was right." He paused picking up a chart. "Sort of."

"I didn't think you had a case right now. It's not like you not to take at least a few days off between cases." Cuddy said with a wry smile.

"I didn't say it was my case. I just said it was a patient." House opened the chart. "John Doe is brought into the ER after passing out at a homeless shelter. The volunteer who checked him out while waiting for the paramedics said that the guy was pretty whacked out and pretty damn hot so he figured it was more than just the fact this guy was homeless and probably hadn't had a decent meal in oh I don't know a decade."

"I take your John Doe turned out to have some kind of symptom that interested you or else I'm really lost." House shrugged.

"John Doe is dead. Staphylococcal Endocarditis. Judging from the guy's track marks, his IV drug use didn't exactly help things and probably helped bring on the condition." House was still looking at the chart as if there was some unanswered question that only Cuddy couldn't see.

"I'm not used to you being interested in dead patients especially dead, homeless patients with an easily explainable and already diagnosed. I don't see what makes this one different.." He didn't appear as if he was going to answer her until he had found that answer he seemed to be searching for between the book and the chart. He shook his head and put the chart aside.

"Yeah, me neither. And yet here I am." Cuddy studied him for a minute.

"I don't get it. If I didn't know better I'd think you knew this guy." She said jokingly, but House gave her a look that stopped her from joking any further. "You know the guy."

"I know a guy who knows the guy. In fact, I know a guy who knows the guy and is actually related to the guy. You know him too." Cuddy shook her head in slight confusion. "John Doe is in fact John Wilson…Well not John, but you get what I mean. He's Wilson's brother."

"What? No, I've met Wilson's brother and his parents." She was in complete disbelief. She, House and Wilson had all worked together for a very long time. Even if many things had only been mentioned in passing, they knew each other pretty well, background and family information included.

"Evidently, he has two brothers. One he hadn't seen in nine years. Well, that doesn't include tonight." House shifted his legs off of his desk taking extra care to move his right leg in the least painful way. "I called in some favors with some orderlies. They're going to wait to move the body for a while."

"Why?"

"Wilson doesn't want to go see him. That's very un-Wilson like.I think he should."

"And you always know what's best for everyone." He gave her an annoyed look. "I'll reinforce your favor. Maybe in this case you aren't totally off base. If Wilson doesn't claim the body then it'll just keep being a John Doe and Wilson will beat himself up. I already have one emotionally stunted, bitter doctor on my staff."

"Aw, I love you too. And god knows I don't want to share that title with anyone." He mocked popping a couple of Vicodin.

"So what's your plan?" He raised an eyebrow at her.

"I take it your in, then?" She nodded. "Do you know what Robert Evans said about memories?"

"Robert Evans, the movie producer?" House nodded. "No, but I'm sure you're going to tell me how he is relevant to this." He stood up taking his cane in hand and pushing through into the Diagnostic lounge. Cuddy followed several steps behind. House picked up a dry erase marker and began pacing around the room fiddling with the marker.

"Evans said that there are three sides to every story. My side, your side and the truth…" Cuddy interrupted at this point.

"I'm pretty sure he didn't invent that phrase." House rolled his eyes stopping his destination less walk.

"That's not the interesting part. Can I finish?" She gave a slight nod motioning for him to continue. "He also said that no one is lying; that memories shared serve each person differently."

"I thought everybody lies?" Cuddy pointed out skeptically.

"Everybody does lie. But sometimes lies aren't really lies." House said logically. "So what have we got? We've got the truth, that Wilson's brother who's name turns out to be Rick," He wrote Rick's name on the board. "Left home at seventeen, a runaway. Wilson, our Wilson," He wrote James on the board. "Saw him three years later not that far from here as a matter of fact, and found out that he was living on the streets. Nine years later, almost ten, he shows up again and dies. That's the factual chain of events." House put the marker down and took a seat across from Cuddy at the table.

"Ok, I'll give you that. Anything else?" House nodded.

"I'm pretty sure I've sorted out Wilson's side of things. So that just leaves…"

"Rick's, who just happens to be one step away from a body bag. How do you plan to figure out his side exactly?" House motioned back toward his office.

"We've got everything we need. The book and the chart."

"A seventeen year old happens to have a copy of The Great Gatsby when he runs away from home and holds onto it. It doesn't exactly seem like the key to this mystery." Cuddy said rationally. House shook his head standing up again and heading back to his office.

"Au contrar." House rememerged a few minutes later with both the chart and the book in hand. He dropped the book down in front of Cuddy. "Look at the copyright page." Cuddy hesitantly opened to the second page of the book.

"Published 1925." She read dismissively.

"What about the reprint date? Look at the most recent reprint date." Cuddy scrolled down the dates with her eyes.

"2001." House was back to passing again.

"Yeah, 2001, which means the book was bought or stolen four years ago. Or later, but definitely not before. That's after being on the street for eight years and after already seeing your estranged brother again." Cuddy took a deep breath. House seemed so sure of whatever he was getting at, but her own mind was having a difficult time reconciling what exactly that was.

"I'm sorry, but I don't see how a four year old copy of popular book proves anything relevant to well anything." House grabbed the book away and turned to a different page.

"Look, there are underlined passages and notes scrolled in the margins." She looked at the page he had presented her with seeing the passage House had quoted earlier. "Don't you get it?" House said with that gleeful look he got when aspects of a case began to fall together in the way they should. "He saw something in this book. People don't write notes in books when they aren't in school needing the info for a test and they especially don't analyze classic literature when they are living on the streets shooting up every chance they get." House took a deep breath. "'So he invented just the sort of Jay Gatsby that a seventeen year old boy would be likely to invent, and to this conception he was faithful to the end.'"

"He saw himself." Cuddy said finally getting it. "Alright so the truth we've got, and if we look through this long enough maybe we'll have Rick's side, so what's Wilson's?" Cuddy asked setting the book down and looking at a weary House who once again sat down.

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A/N: This chapter is solely to gage interest in the story…It won't be long, probably only 2 or 3 chapters…It started as a one shot, but got a little longer. So let me know what you guys think. 


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